A special blessing was bestowed upon the front door, welcome center and office spaces of Pius X High School on Friday, April 12, by Bishop James D. Conley.
The Welcome Center Dedication included about 50 supporters of the school and this newly-completed building project. The addition creates a more welcoming front office, in addition to enhanced security for students, staff and visitors.
Below are the blessings and Gospel from the event:
Bless This School
Sacred is this threshold of our school and holy is this door. This is the meeting place of friend, neighbor, and stranger. May it be a bridge for our comings and goings.
Whenever we stand in its sacred circle, may our eyes be granted new vision, So that we can see in friend or stranger the God of ten thousand disguises.
May this threshold be a sacred space where we come to celebrate the sacrament of hospitality.
May the spirts of evil never cross this threshold, and may the Name of the All-Holy-One protect our school from harm.
May God’s angels stand guard at the right and at the left of this doorway.
May our hearts be always alert to the danger of falseness and pretense as we greet those who come to our school.
Let our affection be graced with honesty and reverence, and may the oil of truth burn in the lamp of our eyes.
Help us to remember that our ancestors were strangers and exiles in Egypt, that Joseph and Mary came knocking at a door like this, weary and in search of kindness.
May we receive all at this door as Godly guests.
May the blessing of God, and peace and grace of the All-Holy-One, surround this threshold of our school and rest upon all who shall pass across it.
R: Amen.
Blessing
The all-knowing God, who is Lord, moves us in many ways to deepen that knowledge of him which he revealed completely when for our sake the Word was made flesh. All disciplines, sciences, and teaching about the world and about human life that we pursue must have as their final purpose to bring us to a knowledge of the truth and to the worship of the true God.
Today we ask God’s blessing on this center of seeking, learning, and teaching what is true. We ask that those entrusted with the education of children or young people in this institution may teach their students how to join the discoveries of human wisdom with the truth of the Gospel, so that they will be able to keep the true faith and to live up to it in their lives. We also ask the Lord that the students will find in their teachers the image of Christ, so that, enriched with both human and divine learning, they will in turn be able and ready to enlighten and assist others.
Holy Gospel, according to Matthew, 5:1b-2, 13-16
Jesus went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a Iampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
